Positive relations between the police and gay, lesbian and bi-sexual people are crucial if the police are to build safer, more stable communities.

Our legal obligations are contained in the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 which only cover employees. However, the Force goes beyond legislation and takes steps to promote sexual orientation equality for service users also.

Homophobia is an irrational fear or hatred of homosexuals or homosexuality, and can result in prejudice against gay members of the community. It can occur at home, in schools, on the street, in the workplace, and it can come from someone you know or a complete stranger.

A homophobic incident (which is also referred Hate Incidents and Crime) can be defined as any incident which appears to any person to be motivated by homophobia. Incidents that can be regarded as homophobic include:

• verbal abuse; assaults accompanied by verbal abuse, damage to property outside gay venues (e.g. cars) or to the premises; burglary accompanied by graffiti
• attacks where the perpetrator’s actions or words display a homophobic motive
• incidents in which heterosexual people mistaken for or associated with homosexual or bisexual people are subjected to homophobic abuse, harassment or attacks
• domestic violence for example, when someone has “come out” to a partner or member of the family

The Force seeks to:

• deal promptly and effectively with reported incidents of homophobia
• work in partnership with members of, and groups within, lesbian and gay communities and any other interested agencies to provide an effective problem-solving approach (for example IAGs, the EAG and voluntary sector organisations) who promote and facilitate the reporting of homophobic hate incidents or crime.
• provide the necessary training to increase the awareness of Force members to homophobia issues and ensure the appropriate levels of sensitivity are applied to police inquiries
• reduce the incidence of homophobically-motivated attacks and other related incidents
• reassure gay, lesbian and bisexual members of the community that we are committed to providing an effective response to their requests for police assistance

Engaging with our gay and lesbian communities

Our IAGs and EAGs each provide a forum in which gay, lesbian and bisexual communities can engage with the Force to influence policing.

In addition to the actions described above, all staff who have contact with members of the public are trained to work effectively with gay and lesbian service users. In particular "Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Hate Crime Officers and a Community Liaison Officer work to build links with all gay and lesbian communities across the Force to identify and tackle issues affecting these communities.

Employment

The Gay Police Association is a well-established network which represents gay and lesbian members of staff. For further information go to Staff Associations.

All employees from Equality Groups are able to attend the Positive Action Leadership Programme (PALP) document, a three day course designed to encourage staff from Equality Groups to maximise their potential at work and progress within the organisation.

One key way to develop trust and confidence with our diverse communities is to have a representative workforce. Details on the work done to achieve this are contained in Making Diversity Happen.

Training

Diversity training is the “golden thread” which is woven into all Force training courses. New police officer recruits are trained in diversity awareness. New police staff recruits receive training on equalities legislation and the minimum standards required by the Force on diversity related matters as part of their induction.

Implementing and conducting non-discriminatory practices and policies

We assess the impact of our practices on sexual orientation equality by using the monitoring described in Methods of Monitoring.

We assess the impact of our policies on sexual orientation equality by conducting Equality Impact Assessment.

Procurement

As well as taking steps to promote equality for our staff and service users we are committed to promote equality in external organisations which provide us with goods or services (“Contractors”). See Procurement for more information.

To ensure that our goods and services can be used equitably and appropriately by our staff and service users we follow a process to assess whether they are fit for that purpose. See Procurement for more information.